Short: 'A dish best served'
by TheJamJar
Summary: A mission is accepted. Search and Destroy. Target designation. Ridley.


okay here we go, first Fanfiction (yay, I can write!) I apologise in advance for any mistakes in spelling, punctuation... or just generally making it suck in any way shape or form.

all Characters within this story belong to Nintendo

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Misson accepted…

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Terms of Contract…

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_Search and Destroy…_

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_Target Designation…_

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Ridley

These words scrolled across the comunications screen as the Hunter class gunship made it's final approach to the surface. The planet the small combat craft was landing on had been deserted for over one hundred years, it's Chozo occupants having left on a great expedition. That is to say, It _had_ been deserted. The planet was now one of many Space Pirate advance bases. The advanced tunnel network the Chozo left behind had been put to good use by the pirates, the technologicaly superior sensor systems and defences being used to detect and neutralise any form of threat before they detect the base. The sensor relays immediately detected the incoming ship. The station beeped twice, attracting the attention of the pirate on duty. He quickly drew himself over to the data station, wanting to go back to sleep_. _As his eyes scanned the analysis a spark of alarm shot through his drowsiness like a lightning bolt. The Hunter was _here._ The pirate quickly tapped a series of commands, targetting the gunship and sending message of the hunters arrival and imminent destruction to his superior. Just as they had locked the golden coloured vessel in their sights, the auto-cannons disengaged, losing power. The pirate cocked his head quizically. Someone had over-rided the cannons commands. Before he had a chance to check the orders, a message popped up on his station, along with every other monitored station. Alarm hit the pirate again. The message was from Lord Ridley himself. They were taking the hunter _head on._ He made a clicking noise, the equivalent of a sigh, as he walked towards his combat gear.

This would not end well.

The Gunship touched down without a hitch, small puffs of dust appearing where the landing gear made contact with the dry ground. A few seconds after the ship settled a hatch opened on the top of the craft. A being clad in golden armour suddenly raised up from the belly of the ship, standing there like an olympian. This was Samus Aran. The hunter quickly surveyed her surroundings, arm cannon raised. She had scanned for lifeforms nearby, but she knew from experience not to take scans for granted. No attack came. She jumped down to the ground and pulled up the map she downloaded from the ship. While the gunship was in the upper atmosphere she had done a landscape scan. The crude map detailed a tunnel entrance further north, through a vast jungle. The area was innacsessible from air, so she had no choice but to push through the dense greenery. With a final scan of the area, she turned around and pushed into the jungle.

She encountred few opponents on the way, a few of the pirates organic sentries and some of the more aggressive life-forms on this planet. They proved little more than target practice. As she continued on her way, her thoughts drifted to her opponent. The two had fought many times before in the past. Each time Samus had won, but each time he cheated death and became ever more persistent in his efforts to cause galactic mayhem. The last time these titans of the battlefield clashed was on Zaldus Prime, a hostile planet with large reserves of crystalised fuel gel. Samus was there on pest control. Another Rock Wyrm had turned up and began taking the miners as snacks. She had just entered it's lair when the pirates attacked. They were there to take the crystals. Once they had detected Samus's presence on the planet, Ridley decided to fight her yet again. While Samus was busy trying to kill the tunnel dweller, Ridley burst in. The Rock Wyrm now had to decide which intruder was more of a threat, the little person with the stinging beam, or the Space dragon enroaching on it's territory. It decided that Ridley was more of a threat and decided to go for him. While the two beasts were fighting Samus made a quick getaway followed by a power-bomb caused cave in. She then proceded to wipe out the raiders top-side and followed up by destroying the Pirate ship.

Samus shook her head. Dwelling on past experiences is a fine mental exercise but leaves little time to act in the present. She double checked the settings of her suit, Varia suit enabled, plasma beam set, missiles stocked. She nodded and kept walking. Before long she arrived at the entrance to the base. There were no visible defences, and after a quick scan and double check with the X-Ray visor no _in_visible ones either. This made the hunter uneasy. Pirates _never_ leave a base unguarded. The lack of defence at the entrance meant one of two things: 1. The base is deserted. This choice was immensely unlikey as the presence of Pirate puffers in the jungle suggested otherwise. Which left option 2. The inside defences are up the yin-yang. This was more probable, considering that Ridley himself was supposed to reside inside. She looked around, trying to find another way in. after a minute she found it, an old style airvent added by the pirates. Deciding it better to at least try this way then risk the, probably booby-trapped front door, she blasted the grate off, turned into the Morph Ball and rolled inside.

On the other side of the door,a Space Pirate Commando stood before his Rag-tag squad of soldiers. Calling some of them soldiers was a joke to him, Commando's were soldiers… Heavy troopers were soldiers… Staff members are not soldiers. Still, the Commando growled, the Pirate equivalent of a chuckle. Even the Hunter could not stand a chance against this many troops. Her head would be his to present to Lord Ridley. Some distance behind the pirate group, a small gold orb dropped down into a shadow. Samus was lucky enough to land directly behind the large bunch of assorted pirates. A quick scan told Samus that the majority of the opponents stood before her were barely combat worthy. A few of them may cause problems, the Commando in particular. Still, she had the upper hand, better equipment, better training… and the element of surprise. She quickly armed a Super Missile. As she aimed at the unsuspecting group of pirates, she thought, for a second, that she should feel sorry for them. She did not feel sympathy… she only felt hate.

Then she fired.

The Missile streaked towards the Pirates, striking the nearest one in the back. The unlucky pirate was effectively disintergrated by the ensuing destruction. The pirates in the blast range were blown apart like fireworks, sending splashes of blood and gore everywhere. The ones further on were thrown forwards, striking the walls, falling down dead. One of the weapons of the staff soldiers went off, blowing a hole in the troop in front. After the disorientation, the scared pirates wheeled around and started firing indiscriminatly at where the missile came from, the Quantum Accelerator Cannons firing as fast as their recycle would allow. After ten seconds of non-stop fire, the Squad Leader held up his hand, signalling to cease fire. He slowly walked towards the shadowed area, the plasma scythe on his arm activating with a menacing crackle. Suddenly, something rushed past his feet with incredible speed. The Commando looked down, and saw a small glowing blue orb on the floor in front of him. He had barely enough time to widen his eyes before the bomb exploded. Samus reverted back and began firing at the remaining pirates, the devastating Plasma bolts burning through the remaining Pirates like rice paper. Soon the Pirates were all either dead or incapacitated. Samus stood there for a second, admiring her handiwork. She wiped a glob of gore from her arm cannon before continuing on into the base.

The remainder of the base was surprisingly empty… for a Pirate base that is. There seemed to be no staff manning any of the research stations or even the remote defences. This made Samus uneasy… Pirates rarely have only one major defence force, especially with important individuals like Ridley around. She continued down the dark hallways and corridors, her mind sharply focused back on the mission. Eventually she found herself in a particularly large hall room, a large hole positioned in it's center. Samus looked around, looking for any sign of Pirate presence. Something sped behind her. She span round, a charged shot throwing an ominous green glow around the room… but saw nothing. She lowered the gun, keeping the charge there, just in case. She walked towards the hole, her footsteps echoing around the room. A quick glance down the hole told Samus that it went a _long_ way down. This information persuaded her to turn on Gravity suit functions, in case something happened.

As soon as the Golden hues of the Varia suit swapped for the purple of the Gravity Suit, the being that had raced behind Samus attacked. A super-heated fireball streaked towards the Hunter, striking her in the chest and pushing her backwards. A high-pitched shriek echoed around the room as Ridley fired another flaming projectile. This time however, Samus was ready for attack. She quickly jumped to the side, returning in kind with the charged beam she had stored. The deadly bundle of energy flew towards the Space dragon and struck him dead-center, stunning him for a second but doing no real damage. Ridley's moment of disorientation gave Samus time to check her suits energy after the first attack. The fireball had depleted two of her ten energy tanks. She could only afford to be hit another 3 times, one more and she would be literally toast. Her mental analysis was cut short by another flaming orb speeding past her head. Ridley had recovered, and he was mad. He started a continuous assault, launching fireball after fireball, the deadly combustibles all heading towards the Hunter. Samus had to dodge furously, ducking to the left and right, sidestepping and dodging in Morph ball, all the while trying to keep up a volume of fire on the Dragon. Ridley almost smirked as the Hunter's shots harmlessly bounced of his scales. He roared at her as he flew above her, aiming a tail jab at Samus. She jumped out of the way of the lethal tail barb. Seeing the obvious ineffectiveness of her beam, she tried a different tactic, launching a missile at his back. The missile struck the dragon squarely in the right wing, blowing a hole in the thin membrane. The infamous general shrieked once more, then fell into the pit, but not before taking Samus with him with a swipe from his tail.

Both combatants fell, Ridley regained stability first and reopened his fireball assault, the superheated flames speeding towards the falling hunter. One of the explosive spheres struck Samus, depleting another 2 energy tanks but also flipping her into a stable position. She started pumping missiles at the Space Pirate, her cannon like an unstoppable hose of destruction. Missile after missile ploughed into Ridley, scales falling off at an incredible rate, he was still firing back however. She used her suits thrusters to dodge the flaming orbs, all the while still launching missiles. Ridley then launshed a huge beam of deadly energy at Samus, who was unprepared for such an attack. The blast struck her dead center, dropping her energy levels dangerously low. It was then, while Ridley was charging up to do the attack again, that she saw her chance. She quickly switched to her last super missile, aimed at his head, then fired. The unfortuanate dragon chose that moment to unleash the killing blow. At least, it would have been the killing blow, had the missile not blown his head off. Having dispensed of one life threatening hazard, she was aced with another. The ground began to come up very, very fast. Samus put her suits thrusters into overdrive to slow her descent, but she still connected with the ground with such a force that shook her very bones. The corpse of her mortal enemy did not have such luxury, and smashed into the floor with a earth shaking crash. Samus slowly got up and walked to the sparking corpse of her enemy. _Sparking?_. The crash had ripped off a fake skin, revealing a robotic skeleton underneath. It was a fake, a robot. Samus closed her eyes, then looked back up the hole. _It's a long walk back to the ship…_

She finally got within range of her Gunship. The Ships AI automatically linked with her Suit. It opened up a voice channel about to ask how the mission went. Samus answered before the AI could even ask. "it wasn't him" she said as she walked to her ship. "he knew I would come, and he set a trap for me" She arrived at her ship and entered. The AI spoke now. "you'll still get most of the Bounty" as Samus settled down in to the pilots seat, a memory arose in her mind. She could see fire, smell smoke and burning, hear the screams of people being killed, she could feel the heat on her skin, feel the fear and terror of a child inside her, experience the pain of an entire colony being wiped out… and it was all because of _Him_. She opened her eyes, her hands balled into fists and her face hard as stone. "It's not about the Bounty… now set a course to the next planet"

"We've got work to do"

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okay... there you have it! Review if you wish and If flaming is your thing then go ahead.


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